>>12707703Yes, your time isn't free, but it's much better to lose just time (which will not be completely lost - you will gain experience) than time and money.
I don't know the specifics of your product, but there may be some interest in forums specific to it if it is an enthusiast product. You could take pre-orders, but will people trust you right now? Goes back to the brand issue
Securing interest is the whole point of kickstarter. You don't necessarily need to make a bunch of dumb price tiers, just offer the product at a lower price than what you want when it retails and give deals if you get 2/3. You can figure out, "I need to make 500 of these for it to be profitable, that will cost x" and you can set your funding goal like that on kickstarter. If there's no demand it's no huge loss for you, and the customers get their money back.
